Sunday, 20 September 2015

Mongolia's wildest route to date

We're always trying to improve tours and find new routes that no one else does. This summer we did a reconnaissance trip in the central provinces of Tuv, Middle Gobi and Ovorkhangai. It is a part of the country that tourists rarely travel and now that the Department of Transport has built several good new roads even locals don't use the old tracks much.

There are some dramatic mountains on the way, especially at Ikh Gazriin Chuluu and Khairkhan mountain.

We saw thousands of white-tailed gazelle, some small steppe foxes, marmots, eagles and cute little jerboas that hop like kangaroos.

As we went further south the steppe turned into desert and we passed through some areas of "zag" saxaul forest; these trees are only found in the Gobi and take hundreds of years to grow.

For part of the route we literally had to go off the map - following faint old tracks that were not marked on any of our maps and sometimes became non-existent. This really is about as remote as you can get and it's so silent that you can hear the birds flying in the sky.

Camping in these wildernesses is such a thrilling adventure and you can be sure that you are one of a handful to have experienced Mongolia like this.

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ABOUT MONGOLIA

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city, is home to about 38% of the population. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.

The area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Gökturks and others. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols returned to their earlier pattern of constant internal conflict and occasional raids on the Chinese borderlands. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. At the end of the 17th century, most of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle until 1921 to firmly establish de facto independence from the Republic of China, and until 1945 to gain international recognition.

As a consequence, it came under strong Russian and Soviet influence; in 1924, the Mongolian People's Republic was declared, and Mongolian politics began to follow the same patterns as the Soviet politics of the time. After the breakdown of communist regimes in Eastern Europe in late 1989, Mongolia saw its own Democratic Revolution in early 1990, which led to a multi-party system, a new constitution in 1992, and transition to a market economy.

At 1,564,116 square kilometres (603,909 sq mi), Mongolia is the 19th largest (including Antarctica) and the most sparsely populated independent country in the world, with a population of around 2.9 million people. It is also the world's second-largest landlocked country after Kazakhstan. The country contains very little arable land, as much of its area is covered by steppes, with mountains to the north and west and the GobiDesert to the south. Approximately 30% of the population are nomadic or semi-nomadic. The predominant religion in Mongolia is Tibetan Buddhism, and the majority of the state's citizens are of the Mongol ethnicity, though Kazakhs, Tuvans, and other minorities also live in the country, especially in the west.